2022 5’6” Sky Wing Warranty

Kluke

Hello, I’m contacting you in regards to my fanatic sky wing board. I bought it only 4 months ago approx, from WSS in sydney, Australia, and brought it to Mauritius a week ago. It got to mauritius intact and have been riding for a few days now. It cracked at the end of todays session whilst mid-air (no impact, no fall etc).
I’m just wondering how to go about the warranty. My friend in sydney had the same crack at the exact same spot on the exact same board, and fanatic gave him a new board. I just dont know if I can get the board replaced or repaired in Mauritius and was hoping you could advise on the situation?

Would I be able to get a replacement board for the duration of my holiday? Or would you advise to patch it up temporarily and still use it until I can get it sorted?
I appreciate any advice you may have for me.

craig

Kluke Hi there, please make pics of the damage, serial nr and send it to the Dealer you bought it from -- he can then start a warranty process. Get the board fixed so it is water-tight in the meantime. When you get home you should be able to process the warranty as per normal.

The importer on Mauritius runs a fairly small Wingfoil business, so with all the import/freight costs he has, it is difficult for him to replace products bought elsewhere.

If the crack is on the top of the rail, which has been an issue on a small % of 2022 boards, then this is fairly easy to close up to make it watertight? (I have also seen some which are certainly not a production issue, rather user/boom/knee etc - in your case you mention normal use, understood). Good luck and enjoy the waves at Manawa etc, such a great spot!

Kluke

Hi Craig, thanks for getting back to me. The issue is I moved back to Mauritius and will not be returning to Australia. What is the best way to proceed! I’ll get the board patched ASAP. Cheers

craig

Kluke hi there, same procedure, contact the shop and they will take it from there...good luck there!

Kluke

Thanks Craig,
WSS in Sydney originally said I would be able to switch my board at the local fanatic dealer in Mauritius which makes sense but now they are saying
“The warranty has been approved on condition of receiving pictures of the board cut in half between the footstraps showing the serial number also. We can't provide a replacement board over there and it is not possible through any other shop, but you would receive a full refund to your Australian bank account immediately on reception and confirmation by Fanatic of the destroyed board photos.

Otherwise, we could replace the board once you return to Australia and cut it up the old one here. You could patch the current board and keep using until you return.”

Once again, I’ve said I’m not returning to Australia/(I live/from Mauritius) and it would be a major hassle for me to destroy the board. Is this fanatic protocol? It would make sense for the fanatic dealer in Mauritius(kitesurf.mu) to destroy the board when I bring it in for a swap? Looking for clarification on this as this process should have been completed over a week ago.

Thank you in advance

Luke

craig

Hi Luke, we do not offer a worldwide warranty exchange - very difficult for the smaller countries to take the costs of replacements with shipping/stock risk etc. So the process as described is accurate yes, the reason the request for board cut in half is as the manufacturer and ourselves want to be sure that if we replace the product, that it is then not being repaired/sold on - creating perhaps more quality and image issues for us, despite the replacement. 90% of our customers would not do this obviously, unfortunately there have been cases where a few individuals have glued the 2 halves back together again..:-)

Suggest you check with the Mauritius importer/shop (Laurent), to see if he has a board in the size you need first/for a similar price hopefully, although that is of course up to him depending on his freight/margins etc. Once that is clear, then you could go ahead and cut the board yourself once you know you have the replacement locally available so not to miss any water time - then send the pics to WSS and they will credit you - you can then use this money to buy the new board. Presume all of this can be done fairly quickly, only issue is to establish if there is a board similar to the size you need on Mauritius already/how soon you can get it. Thanks for your understanding here, hope it works out.